Over the course of the past couple of years there has been a lot of talk about parity in sports. It
seems that the "big market" teams are scooping up all of the good players while the "small market"
teams are left to fight for what remains. New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and others have the money
and the resources to pay big salaries to the star athletes while the smaller cities, like
Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and others don't. And just like the big markets get the top players those
players get a lot of media attention because they play in a major market. Throughout the course of
history there have been great players who played in small markets who just never got the
recognition that they deserved. There are exceptions, of course, like Aaron Rodgers who plays for
the Green Bay Packers, and as we all know Green Bay is not exactly a major metropolis, is it? The
same formula holds true in drag racing, I think. There are drivers, especially on the sportsman
level who travel around and get a lot of publicity, sometimes because they are good and other times
because they just go to almost every national event. Racers from the New York area, of even Los
Angeles, show up at Englishtown, Pomona or other tracks and get noticed for what they do, but there
are racers from the "small markets' who are just as good, if not better, and if they decided to
take their show on the road the publicity and national recognition would follow. In my mind Jeff
Lane is one of those racers.

Lane and crew celebrate 2010 Pomona win.

Jeff Lane races in one of those small markets that I mentioned, Seattle, Washington. He also
competes in Division 6 where it is tough to get a lot of national points simply because the car
count is sometimes low, and a lost round or two here or there can often make the difference between
winning a national championship and coming in second. Plus, when you are running in Competition
Eliminator like he is now the national event opportunities are few and far between. Having said
that all you have to do is look at Jeff's racing résumé to know that he is as good as any sportsman
racer in the country. He has won forty NHRA divisional races, and that puts him in the top ten of
all racers throughout the history of the divisional format and he has another twenty-three final
round appearances. He has been to fourteen national event final rounds and won seven of them, he
has won the Division 6 championship nine times, been a member of the All Star team six times, won
the All Star race in 1996 and has been in the top ten a dozen times. Included in those nine
division titles is the year 2006 when he won in two classes, Comp and Super Stock. With all of
those accomplishments he could probably walk down to the starting line at any national race and
hardly be recognized, unless of course it was the national race in Seattle. "I really don't think
about that much," he said. "I've been very fortunate over the years to be able to race and
accomplish what I have and I have had my fair share of publicity so I can't complain."

Jeff began his racing career in 1975 with Jerry Hancock, a man that he is still partners with to
this day. "He had a shop down the street from me and a friend and I used to hear the engines
running and we'd go down to his shop to see what was going on. From there it was pick up a wrench,
fix that part and then hop in the truck and let's go racing." While that

Jeff Lane

may be the Reader's Digest condensed version of the story it basically reflects the fact that Jerry
saw something in the young man and it proves that he had a very good eye for talent. Their first
car was a 1967 Camaro that ran in the Super Stock class and from that humble beginning the pair has
had a lot of cars, all very successful, and has amassed a very formidable record. "Other than a
brief stint when we were involved with SCCA racing we have been drag racing ever since '75," Jeff
said. That SCCA gig saw the duo work with a team that traveled all over the West Coast and did very
well. "We had them in second place but we both hated it. Drag racing is our first love."

At a young age Jeff could have elected to take his driving talents on the road full time but he
decided against it. "I could have gone racing and travelled all over but I decided to stay near
home, start my business and raise a family and I've never regretted it." Right out of high school
he started a company, Lane Hardwood Floors, that he still operates today. "We do floors for high
end builders and remodelers and it's been very good to me over the years." And twenty-one years ago
he married Diane and they have two children, a boy and a girl, who both attend college in
Washington. "One goes to Washington State and the other goes to the University of Washington so we
have some real rivalries going on in our house." Almost like the rivalries he has on the track. "I
enjoy racing guys like Dan Fletcher and Peter Biondo because they bring out the best in you." And
while no one is really counting Jeff says that he is about even in his ten meetings with Dan and he
has a winning record against Peter. "The year that I finished second in the national points to
Peter we raced at the Las Vegas national event. It really didn't mean much because we were both out
of races and he had already locked up the championship, but I beat him that day and I have to admit
it was a good feeling."

Cody Lane

Another good feeling is watching his son, Cody, join the ranks of drivers in the highly competitive
world of Super Stock Eliminator. "He has a SS/BS car that runs very well and he is driving well,
too. But he had a couple of unfortunate mistakes early this year, like a wrong dial-in at a
national race, a technical glitch at another race and then, as hard as it is to believe, another
wrong dial-in at a points race. A couple of them were my fault but I'm really proud of the way he
has been driving." With a teacher like his father it seems like only a matter of time before Cody
joins him in the winner's circle. "I hope his first win is better than mine," Jeff laughed. "We won
the Arizona race in 1991, the year the race was postponed because the track broke up, and when I
went back Jerry couldn't make it and there were about nine people in the stands and the entire
winner's circle was me and my dad." He rectified that with his next win, however. "Yeah, we won in
Seattle the next year and had about a hundred people in the winner's circle with us. That was a lot
more fun." Jeff is quick to point out that he has a great crew and wonderful sponsors who are
always right there with him. "Our crew, Ken Lantz, Todd Wagner and Rob Estes help us with the car
and we couldn't do it without some great support. Among our sponsors are Mickey Thompson Tires, Red
Line Oil, Comp Cams, Weldon Pumps, K&N Filters, Action Machine, Golden Shine, C&D Machine and CP
Pistons. We really appreciate everything they do for us so we can participate in the sport we
love."

Lane and crew celebrate 2003 Pomona win.

A quick check of the national points right now finds Jeff leading the way in Comp and he is ahead
of a few former national champions, Dean Carter and Lou Ficco. "We run a car in B/SMA that we built
ourselves and we got off to a great start when we won the Lucas Oil Division 7 race in Arizona and
we posted a runner-up at the Boise race last week." Along with his longtime friend and partner,
Jerry Hancock, Jeff plans to run about the same schedule as he has in the past. "We'll hit about
six national races and seven or eight divisional races. It's tough to chase the points in Comp when
you live up here but we're happy doing what we're doing. It's fun and I'm having a great time now
watching Cody race." And for the past thirty years or so drag racing fans have had a great time
watching the team of Hancock and Lane race and win, and even if they aren't household names they
are among the best in the sport.